IT'S ALL IN THE SUGAR!

Have you ever had a recipe you used over and over with unfailing results? And suddenly one day you go to make that recipe – whatever it is – and it just won't work for you? Perhaps it's over-confidence, perhaps it's subtle changes in ingredients. Whatever – it's baffling. This year's elderberry jelly has been like that for me.

Murray left a comment on the last elderberry post: "I read that 100% cane sugar is important - no Idaho beet sugar. Also boiling time." I'm not so old but what I can still find someone old enough to have been my mother, so I asked my oldest sister, who was a country housewife for 50+ years, if she could confirm that cane sugar should be used in jelly making. She said she believed she had known that at one time because she has always insisted on C&H brand sugar. Okay, I admit it. I have been buying store brand sugar and I guess it caught up to me. Mike and I have always believed that the grocery store is not the place to scrimp, but I have been experimenting a bit with store brands.

"So you don't have any elderberry jelly?" Clinton asked as he was getting ready to leave. "Elisha likes it." So I gave him a jar of last year's batch and explained that I have not given up on this year's product. Then I decided that this would be the day I would make another batch. I came prepared with a bag of cane sugar and a sack-ful of Gala apples. First I cooked the apples (2.5 pounds of apples cooked with 2.5 cups of water) and strained the juice. Apple juice mellows the flavor of the elderberry and provides natural pectin. I decided to go with Sure-Jell brand pectin, and I increased the juice to 3.75 cups as recommended by one online expert. (Remember, both Sure-Jell and MCP have dropped elderberry from their recipe lists in the last couple of years.) I used 2.5 cups of pre-processed elderberry juice to 1.25 cups of my processed apple juice.

According to recommended procedure, I stirred the powdered pectin into the juice (including ¼ cup lemon juice) and stirred this mixture constantly over high heat (except for when I took this picture of a rolling boil). I had pre-measured the cane sugar and poured it all at once into the hot liquid. The difference between the cane sugar and the previous failed mixtures was visible at once. The cane sugar dissolved immediately and the syrup appeared silky smooth as opposed to grainy and globular. I kept stirring over high heat until the rolling boil was reached. Whereas previously I had questioned when the mixture came to a rolling boil, there was no question about that rolling boil with the cane sugar. It actually foamed up in the pot. I boiled for one minute per Sure-Jell instructions.

The jars and lids were ready and I filled them immediately with the hot liquid. The jars have now sealed and are sitting on the counter for 24 hours.

Well, I figure if cane sugar is best for my jelly it's probably best for anything I make. From now on, this "Mrs. Retro Housewife" will insist on brand name cane sugar for the visibly superior final product.

Oh – any suggestions for using up three batches of gooey jelly? I already tried re-cooking – it didn't improve the product. KW